Volontaire

A petite young woman unsure of her future signs up for a job in the French Navy in Raising Colors (Volontaire), from actress-turned-director Helene Fillieres. This rigidly composed feature is a certainly a step up from Fillieres’ messy directorial debut, the bondage-laced Laetitia Casta vehicle Tied, though it does again explore how a woman takes charge in a male-dominated environment. That said, Raising Colors’ somewhat reserved exploration of the protagonist’s fascination with a male superior, while clearly inspired by and completely appropriate for the military setting, makes this more of a coolly detached art house puzzler than a full-blooded and more easily accessible coming-of-age story.

Handsomely produced by Gaumont’s Sidonie Dumas and the director’s other half, producer Matthieu Tarot, this should nonetheless intrigue a segment of the art house population at home and in Francophile territories while scoring film weeks and festival bookings further afield. The presence of Lambert Wilson, of the Matrix sequels and Of Gods and Men fame, as the protagonist’s boss and object of intrigue (if perhaps not outright desire) can only help, though the film’s true star is breakout actress Diane Rouxel in the lead.